During her one attempt with Lawrence to ask for what she wanted, he’d accused her of giving him stage directions. “That’s one of those things that sounds good in theory but never actually works without someone’s feelings getting hurt.”

“Alice,” he said gently. “The whole point of this is there’s no relationship bullshit getting in the way. That leaves us free to enjoy ourselves.”

What Dan considered relationship bullshit was everything Alice missed about being part of a couple. Still, she couldn’t fault his honesty. “Thursdays are good for me.”

“Thursdays could work.” He tapped his pen against his lips. “What else?”

“You said food and conversation, but we can’t be seen eating in town every Thursday or we’ll be tagged as a couple after week two.”

“Too easy. We’ll get takeaway or we can cook. I make a pretty mean risotto. Hilary’s even complimented me on it.”

The thought of Dan’s mother sent a geyser of stomach acid splashing and burning. “No one can know about this. Especially our mothers!”

This time his look was loaded with gratitude. “Excellent point. If Hilary got wind of this, she’d jump straight to weddings and babies.”

Alice’s thoughts were never far from babies and they immediately drifted there in a delicious daydream. Like the pointed tip of a knife, her mother’s words about miscarriages and the black and white statements of the magazine article jabbed sharply. The dream vanished, leaving her anxious. Alice didn’t have plenty of time. To have any hope of meeting someone who not only shared her interests but her life plan, it was imperative she play a numbers game on the dating apps. She must commit to talking to five men a week and if she sensed a connection with any of them, run their photo through reverse image, do a social media and google check and then insist they meet for coffee. If any of them fobbed her off, they’d be immediately struck off the list. But looking for a life partner was going to take time and, according to the graph she’d looked at earlier, her biological clock was fast ticking down to an inevitable end point. If she wanted a baby, just focusing on meeting someone wasn’t enough—she needed to buy some time. She decided to make an appointment with a doctor and discuss freezing her eggs.

Dan put down the pen. “I think we’ve covered everything.”

Alice considered Dan. If their arrangement survived their first attempt at sex—and they were both clear it would only ever be about sex—and if it continued as a pleasant way to pass the long winter months, there was one more thing that needed to be crystal clear.

“Not quite.” Alice tapped the napkin. “Write this down. The moment we start dating someone, we stop being friends with benefits.”

“The moment?”